Chapter 4 | Conclusions

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Conclusions

Conclusions

On process This research was set out to investigate whether site-specific buildings and artifacts can be used as input for design and how making as a methodology can be used to constitute an archive.

The greatest impact is perhaps not in the final outcome but rather in the process of mapping and making, in building an archive that brings to the presence both the peculiarites of the site as well as the past, the present and the future. There is undoubtedly countless ways of coming to concusions in term of the site and later a design proposal, however, a somewhat guided process with an open ending has proved to be helpful in that regard, leading to insights that may otherwise been missed. For one, the tectonics of buildings, their materiality and a greater understanding of details and how the buildings are landing on the ground.

The process of investigation in making the archive is in itself a reflection without words. The creation of objects and design thinking have been used as central activites which is the outcomes of outlined processess and investigations. This is true both for this research and for the methodology of design research. It is important not to stop the research and iterations at the initial stages but to carry on throughout in order for a sucessful project.

On theory As emphasized by Albena Yaneva56, the archive and its iunderlying technology should be scrutinized and be made integral to the work of various practitioners, a conclusion shared and strengtened after making the archive for this research. These artefacts gather their meaning not by themselves but through their surrounding. That is is also the aim for the proposed pioneers when placed back into Ratan. By themselves they are merely objects, together, they become meaningful which also resonates the theory of Genius Loci.

To put this research into context, without limiting it to cultural preservation or attempting to mimic the past, the theory of Critical Regionalism has been helpful. As outlined in the theory, the attempt has been to allow oneself to be linked with the past without being limited to it. Having this as a guidning principle has allowed for a greater freedom in the pro

Reflections f the pilot jetty

cess of making an archive while simultaneously being reminded of the context, not forgetting tradition, culture and the sites' peculiariteis. The chosen artefacts of ratan have helped in understanding the past, the history as well as the tectonic which provides input to the pioneers.

The act of making has been the overarching modus operandi for this research and the main tool of exploration. This has allowed for a hands-on approach of understanding tectonics, textures as well as spatial and material qualities. Sketching has also been helpful for thinking through the hands, where details and scales quickly can be examined. The theories on the Analogue put forward by Aldo Rossi allows for the creative freedom of exchanging spaces from one object to another which has been helpful in understanding primary forms and materiality as input for the pioneers.

For practitioners This research is relevant for architects as well as other practitioners in providing a different approach to understanding architecture. The outlined theories all agrees that meaningful architecture is helped through investigating context, history and inter-relationships. To allow oneself to glance at the past when looking into the future. In combining these theories and concepts, the architecture becomes grounded and meaningful while still looking forward, being influenced by contemporary materials and methods of construction.

Extensive mapping into elements, materials, objects and buildings and their inter-relations as outlined in this research allows for architecture grounded to a place and informed by its context. Utilizing this knowledge as input for design decisions makes for buildings with character in the words of Aldo Rossi.

The process oriented approach strenthens the research as input for practitioners in its applicability. The emphasis on place, identity and artefacts are equally important and applicaple regardless if the project is rural or urban, or in a new or old context.

Foundation for Rataskär lighthouse

Making it back to Ratan Having focused on physical explorations and the making of an archive, this research is this largely physical. Along with printed key drawings and illustrations, the research has made it back to Ratan. This is thanks to Toms Kokins, offering up two windows in his house facing the road, allowing anyone passing a view of the work, which is to be exhibited during the summer 2022. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to bring the work back to the place which, along with its people make the project and what is has become which I am very thankful for.

Limitations & further research

As outlined previously, the artefacts consists of six selected objects found in Ratan and it is these elements that together with the place and its history forms the foundation from which the archive departs. Limiting the selection to six buildings, most of which are constructed prior to the 21st century accounts for a rather narrow selection given the context and other buildings in Ratan. The selection is however conscious, telling a story of the rich maritime history for Ratan and its rich past while also informing the context and relation to the ground.

The theories have been helpful in understanding how theory can be combined with design research as input for design. The chosen topics are however all extensive and could individually be subjects for their own thesis'.

The process of exploration and proposal of the three pioneers have been focused not on program or history but rather an investigation of them as objects and how these objects relate with eachother and their site. Had the aim of this thesis been for instance to develop the best 'program' or the 'most affordable' housing another approach and selection of artefacts may have been a better choice. However, the process oriented approach may very well be suited to generate insights as imput for design in the above mentioned cases.

For future research, it is encouraged to develop and explore architecture through an archive also for other applications than outlined in this research which may help in providing architecture that is both meaningful and possessess the peculiarities of a place while still being critical to its context.

Retaining wall

Building is a brutal confrontation between nature and culture, and in that confrontation one can find balance and beauty

Sverre Fehn

Ratan wharf, concrete on top of old timber structures

List of references & illustrations

Amoroso, Nadia. The exposed city: mapping the urban invisibles. Routledge, 2010.

Anderson, Ross. "Analogue Architecture: Between Imagination and Memory." (2013): 4-8.

Carl G. Jung, in The Freud/Jung Letters: the Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung (March 02, 1910), William McGuire (ed.), trans. Ralph Manheim and R. F. C. Hull (London: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 1991), 160 In: Anderson, Ross. "Analogue Architecture: Between Imagination and Memory." (2013): 4.

Charny, D (2011) Power of Making, Victoria & Albert Museum, http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/ articles/p/powerofmaking/ (retrieved 2020-02-15).

Corner, James. The agency of mapping: speculation, critique and invention. na, 1999.

Crudelli, Andrea. Beyond Critical Regionalism. A conversation with Kenneth Frampton, Dedalo Building Lab. 2018. https://www.dedalobuildinglab.com/architecture-conversations/beyond-critical-regionalism-a-conversation-with-kenneth-frampton/ Retrieved (2021-03-13)

Frampton, Kenneth. "20 Toward a Critical Regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance." Postmodernism: a reader 268 (1993).

Grillner, Katja. "Från postmodernism till kritisk regionalism-en längtan efter meningsbärande arkitektur." 1994 7.1 (2015). p.80

Hall, Stuart. "Constituting an archive." Third text 15.54 (2001): 89-92.

Heatherwick, Thomas. Thomas Heatherwick: Making. The Monacelli Press, LLC, 2015.

Hollinder, Christer. Ratan - Berättelsen om ett folk som historien har fört vidare. Umeå. Föreningen Ratans historia. 2007, p. 8.

José Ortiz Echagüe. (no date) Granaries of Galicia, Spain. In: Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture without architects: a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture. UNM Press, 1987.

Peter Eisenman, “The House of the Dead as the City of Survival” in Aldo Rossi in America: 1976 to 1979 (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press), 6. Quoted in Anderson, Ross. "Analogue Architecture: Between Imagination and Memory." (2013): p.4. Norberg-Schulz, Christian. "Genius loci: towards a phenomenology of architecture (1979) p,5 .” Historic Cities: Issues in Urban Conservation 8 (2019): 31.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian (1992), Genius Loci, om platskvalitet. Arkitektur, nr. 2, sid. 34-37

Ricoeur, Paul. "Universal civilization and national cultures." History and truth 271 (1965): 284., pp. 276-7.

Sennett, Richard. The craftsman. Yale University Press, 2008.

List of illustrations

Figure 1 Yasmine Nachabe Taan, Melissa Plourde Khoury. The Archive: Visual Culture in the Middle East. Symposium cover.. https://www.khtt.net/en/ page/29610/the-archive-visual-culture-in-the-middle-east (Retrieved 2022-04-05)

Figure 2 Åke E:son Lindman. Genius Loci #2, [photography]. Print #5 (2/7) 1996. Artnet [online]. http:// www.artnet.com/artists/%C3%A5ke-eson-lindman/genius-loci-2-tujR8IRvUM7t_mrR1wDEqA2 (Retrieved 2020-02-15)

Figure 3 Paradigma Ariadné. Slanted House. ArchDaily. 05 Nov 2020. https://www.archdaily.com/950780/ slanted-house-paradigma-ariadnle> ISSN 07198884. (Retrieved 5 Apr 2022).

Figure 4 José Ortiz Echagüe. (no date) Granaries of Galicia, Spain. In: Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture without architects: a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture. UNM Press, 1987.

Figure 5 Aldo Rossi, Architettura Domestica. Drawing May 1974. In Archive of Affinities. 2014 https:// archiveofaffinities.tumblr.com/post/99381462000/ aldo-rossi-architettura-domestica-may-1974 (Retrieved 2022-03-22)

Ratan wharf, rocks on top of old timber structures

Today, a rarely conscious population is fighting the final total darkness over the sea. They have discovered the value of conservation through continuity and that development is not always synonymous with decommissioning.

Christer Hollinder

Master Thesis 2022

Spectacular Vernacular - a series of pioneers in Ratan